Hawai’i: Ono Seafood, Tea Garden, and Shirokiya

This is the poke and tako rice bowl I had for lunch yesterday. It was from Ono Seafood, a place mom has been telling me about for months! She stop by for lunch pretty often…this is seriously one of the most delicious deals I’ve encountered in a long time. $6 buys a poke bowl. Or tako bowl. Or half-poke, half-tako bowl. I got the latter (poke on the left, tako on the right). Juice or soda is included too!The poke and tako is tossed to order and you can specify if you want more or less of anything…limu, green onion, shoyu, chili pepper, onion, and kukui nut…I love it all! Extra chili pepper please!Mixing in progress Here’s the interior of the shop. Pretty basic, most people come to get poke or tako by the pound for take home. $14 per pound is on the pricey end (it’s about $7-$8 per pound at Foodland or Safeway), but it’s very much worth it! They also sell raw crab and pretty good pickled mango.Post lunch, I met my two aunties at Ala Moana for some shopping. We stopped off at The Pacific Place Tea Garden for an iced tea break…ginger peach tea, iced, for myself……and some sweets they brought from lunch at Chinatown! We call this “Cam Cake.” It’s like a fried mochi ball, similar to jin dui, only a lot chewier and topped off with a layer of crunchy caramelized sugar……here’s what the inside looks like, filled with mashed and slightly sweetened mung beans.Family dinner wasn’t till 8pm, so I picked up up a mini sushi set at Shirokiya around 6pm…that’s when most of the bento boxes go on sale!! hehehe. I got this one for only $1.95. Two futomaki and two “cone sushi,” pieces. Perfect size to tide me over till dinner.Shirokiya has gone through a lot of changes and renovations since my last visit! There’s a whole new seating area near the cash registers. And lots of new permanent demo places. Looks like the okonomiyaki and takoyaki people are here for good, as well as the Ginza Barin Katsu place. They had SO MUCH mochi out…I gotta get back here asap!Hope your Friday was delicious…I get one malassada from Leonard’s for afternoon snack today! You can get filled ones too, but I wanted to keep things simple

I've only had the poke by the pound at Ono's. I'll have to make that my 1st lunch when I get back! Could you imagine a $6 Poke bowl or Steak plate in NY?Sounds like you're having a great time. The contrast between the NY and HI posts/food complexity is interesting.Alan from Makiki

Hey Alan!haha, I WISH NYC would sell a $6 poke bowl place…maybe I should open up a place like that I always love visits back home…a lot less "fancy" food, more easy, beach friendly meals hehe. Love NYC as well too..crazy how they so different, huh? :)Hey Katie!Glad you're enjoying the posts! You'll love the poke bowl…and then can just walk over to Leonard's to finish lunch with a malassada, hehe